


Have I Ever Told You I Love You?

by lyssajanet



Series: The Vestige and the Vessel [3]
Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls Online
Genre: F/M, Ficlet, Fluff, Love Confessions, OCAngstAndFluffWeek2019, well it's fluff if you ignore the canon ending of summerset
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-13 04:10:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20576237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyssajanet/pseuds/lyssajanet
Summary: Darien and Isla missed their chance to make things official the first time around, so now that they've reunited on Artaeum, they're not letting anything stop them from becoming husband and wife. Then comes an embarrassing realization a few years late about a certain three words that may or may not have been said...





	Have I Ever Told You I Love You?

It took a lot of begging and a little threatening, but somehow Darien and Isla managed to convince Iachesis to marry them just hours after Isla told Darien he was a father and his subsequent, but years-late, proposal. Given that the last time the two of them had waited until _after_ the end of the world to discuss marriage, Darien had been trapped in the Colored Rooms for almost three years, they were very eager to get this process moving along nice and quick. They didn’t live the kind of lives that allowed them to wait for things to calm down. Every moment was chaotic and the world was almost always ending. If they wanted happiness, they had to chase it and pin it down before it could escape.

And so that was how a quarter of the Psijics ended up attending the informal and impromptu ceremony, and watched the infamous and odd Vestige marry the Golden Knight of Meridia just a few days after meeting him. It probably looked a bit weird, but the two were past caring. Though, even those who judged couldn’t deny that the Vestige had good taste in the appearance of her partners.

Isla wished her other friends had been able to come on such short notice, but her fear of losing Darien again before making things official was stronger than her patience. Surely Lyris, Sai, Gabrielle, Skordo, and Emeric would understand among others. Phoebe certainly wouldn’t even remember not getting to be the flower girl of her mommy and daddy’s wedding. Isla would take what she could get.

There wasn’t exactly time for a honeymoon, and after her threats to run away to Summerset and elope with Darien there, Iachesis was watching both her and Darien far more closely for signs of them leaving without permission. But they did have the entire evening to spend together, alone, before they had to get back to saving the world.

They had changed out of their fancy armor after the ceremony. Isla sat on the bed, taking out her quickly done but nonetheless elaborate updo done by Valsirenn, while Darien fought with a bottle of wine. It had been a long time since she had seen Darien, and a longer one since it was outside combat. Casual clothes were a good look for him.

His efforts froze and Isla assumed he had won his battle with the bottle. “Have I ever told you I loved you?” he asked with his back to her before turning to face her, unopened bottle still in hand. 

Isla smirked, leaning back on the bed and looking up at Darien with hooded eyes. “Well it doesn’t hurt to say,” she trailed off alluringly.

“No seriously,” he said, not picking up on her flirtations. Isla quirked a brow while Darien squinted in concentration, eyes on the ground. “I don’t think I’ve ever actually said ‘I love you’ to you.” If one listened closely, they could almost hear the rusted gears in Darien’s head attempting to turn. Isla sighed and sat up, mood ruined.

“Darien, we’re married. We have a child. I’m fairly certain I know how you feel about me by now.”

Darien shook his head at the floor, then set the bottle on a side table and walked toward Isla on the bed. “It might not matter to you, but it matters to me. I need to make up for not saying ‘I love you’ to you for the last four years that I have known it.” He knelt on the bed in front of her and held her face in his hands. “Isla Kingston, I love you.”

Well, fuck, Isla thought. She may have joked before, but damn if that didn’t make her hear skip a beat and fill with affection toward the love of her life. She hadn’t realized how good hearing that would be. Her eyes fluttered shut as a smile overtook her face.

“I love you.” A quick kiss pressed to her forehead. “I love you.” Temple. “I love you.” Cheek. “I.” Jawline. “Love.” Corner of her lips. “You.” Lips. He pulled back slightly, making Isla open her own eyes, and gazed back at her, love-struck smile adorning his own face.

Her brain had stopped working, focused only on the feeling of having Darien close again and saying the words she didn’t know she had been yearning so deeply for her entire life. But when it did, realizing the two of them had been staring for quite some time, she also realized she hadn’t said it back. Never before had she told someone she loved them like this.

Isla’s heart had always been filled with love for her friends, the land, nature, you name it. The word casually thrown about for anything, from a gift from a close friend to a very good sweetroll. But romantic love? Romantic love of _this_ level? She couldn’t think of anything there was to fear, couldn’t feel a drop of it in her, but for some reason, the words just wouldn’t come out.

Instead she reverted back to tried and true sarcasm. “You are, absolutely ridiculous.”

If he noted that she hadn’t said it back, he at least didn’t acknowledge it. “Ah, but _you_,” he tapped her on the nose, causing her to scrunch it up and giggle, “agreed to marry this ridiculous man, so who is the real fool here?”

He was right, ultimately. Not about marrying him, but she was being foolish. She knew there was nothing to fear with saying those three words. There was no one on Nirn she was more comfortable and safe with. She did love him. With every ounce of her being, Isla Kingston loved Darien Gautier. She sighed, shaking her head. “Both of us, for not saying it sooner.” She raised her right hand to Darien’s face, mirroring his own touch of her cheek. Her thumb brushed under his eye, stubble scratching softly under her palm. He did look good with a beard. Very good

“Darien Gautier, I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> partyatsanguines on tumblr if u want more eso and darien nonsense


End file.
